If you've been sitting on a pile of fabric scraps from a past project, this one's for you. A handmade name banner is one of the sweetest things you can add to a nursery — personal, tactile, and made with love. Best of all, it uses scraps you already have.

Here's how to make one from start to finish.

What You'll Need

• Fabric scraps in coordinating prints (enough for each letter)
• Cotton batting
• A letter stencil
• Fabric scissors or pinking shears
• A sewing machine
• String or macramé cord
• Small pegs or clips

Step 1: Pick Your Fabrics

Dig into your scrap pile and pull out fabrics that work together. You don't need perfect coordination — a mix of prints in the same colour family (like red florals and cream botanicals) looks beautiful when the letters are strung together. This is the charm of a scrap project: every letter tells a little story.

Step 2: Make Your Fabric Sandwich

For each letter, you'll need two pieces of fabric and one piece of cotton batting.

Layer them like this: place one piece of fabric face-down, lay the cotton batting on top, then place the second piece of fabric face-up. Press the layers together smoothly. This sandwich gives each letter its lovely soft, padded feel.

Step 3: Trace Your Letters

Using a letter stencil, trace each letter of the name onto the top layer of fabric with a fabric marker or chalk pen. Take your time with the placement — you want each letter centred with enough fabric around it for a seam allowance.

Step 4: Stitch the Outline

Take your fabric sandwich to the sewing machine and stitch along the traced outline of each letter. This is the step that brings the letter to life — the stitching holds all three layers together and defines the shape.

Go slowly around curves and corners. No need for it to be perfect; a slightly imperfect stitch line adds to the handmade character.

Step 5: Cut Out the Letters

Once each letter is stitched, cut around the outline — leaving about 2mm alongside the stitch line. This small seam allowance keeps the stitching intact while trimming the letter to shape.

For a lovely textured edge, use pinking shears. The zigzag cut adds a decorative finish and prevents fraying at the same time. It's a small detail that makes a big difference to the final look.

Step 6: String the Letters Together

Thread your cord or string through the top of each letter (you can punch a small hole or loop it through with a peg), then space the letters evenly along the line. Little metal or wooden pegs work beautifully here and make it easy to adjust spacing or swap letters out later.

The Result

Hang it above a cot, along a bookshelf, or across a nursery wall — and you've got a completely one-of-a-kind name banner, made entirely from scraps that might otherwise have gone unused.

At Quilted by Derlyn, we make heirloom pieces that are meant to be kept, not discarded. A name banner like this is exactly that — something your little one might hang in their own home one day.